The Cyrene Book

at The Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

Compiled by
Jonathan Zilberg, Ph.D.
Center for African Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This 200 page scrap book contains a substantial record of the

student art created at Cyrene mission in what was then Southern
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) between 1940 and 1953. It is one of
many such collections compiled by Canon Paterson (1895-1973)
and sent to libraries in the UK and United States.
This particular record is of special significance to the history of the
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, formerly the Central
School of the Arts and Crafts, as Paterson had studied at from 1920
through 1923. Instead of taking up a teaching position at the Central
chose to return to Africa as an Anglican missionary.
Through making a small selection of this fascinating record of mid20th century African childrens art more accessible through the
internet, this resource brings attention to a little known aspect of the
history of the CSM and Patersons early contribution to the
development of modern African art. A list of references is provided
for those interested in knowing more about the history of Cyrene
mission.

Canon Paterson and the Bishop

References
African Music Society. Cyrene Exhibition in London: Extracts from the Press. African Music Society
Newsletter 1949 1(2): March:28-30.
Anonymous. Cyrene School of Art. African Music Society Newsletter (1948) 1(1) June:23-24.
Anonymous. Wonderstone Wonders. Sculpture of Samuel Songo. Time (1954) August:58.
Anonymous. Unique African Religious Paintings. Rhodesia Calls (1973) 80, July/August: 19-25.
Cyrene Mission. Visitors Guide.(1994) Bulawayo: Cyrene Mission
Devlieger, P. Representation of Physical Disability in Colonial Zimbabwe: The Cyrene Mission and
Pitaniko, the Film of Cyrene. Disability and Society (1998): 13(5):709-724.
Ehrenzweig, A. The African Schoolboy Art of Cyrene. The Studio (1954) 148 (738):80-83.
Fosu, K. 20th Cyrene Centre: Benson Dube. Twentieth Century Art of Africa (1986): 49-50. Zaria:
Gaskiya.
Jones, W. Ffrangcon. Religious Patronage: Cyrene (1958). Cape Town: South Africa.
Kowo. Kudzai. Cyrene Art: 50 years Back. The Artist (1990) April 1(3):3.
Lombard, S. Cyrene. Jeune Afrique (1951) 5(15): 4-8.

Morton, E. Gron. Ned Paterson and the Cyrene Mission Tradition. In Missions and Modern Art in
Southern Africa. (2003): 68-110. Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services.
Paterson, E, Canon. The Nature of Bantu Art and Some Suggestions for its Encouragement. Nada
(1942) 19:14-15.
Paterson, E. Canon. Cyrene: Africans in the Making. (1949). Westminster: The Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Randles, E. Mission Art in Zimbabwe in Legacies of Stone: Zimbabwe Past and Present, ed. G.
Bourgois, vol. 2:71-83, 192. Tervuren: Royal Museum of Central Africa.
Rankin, E. and E. Miles. The role of the missions in art education in South Africa. Africa Insight
(1992) 22(1):34-48.
Vera, Yvonne. Two Schools in Zimbabwe. In Anthology of African Art: The Twentieth Century, ed. F.
Ngone, New York: Distributed Art Publishers.
Walker, D. A. C. Paterson of Cyrene (1985) Gweru: Mambo Press.
Wall, B. Canon Paterson of Cyrene. Arts Zimbabwe (1981) 2:27-38.
Ranger, T. O. Making Zimbabwean Landscapes: Painters, Projectors and Priests. Paideuma (1997)
43:59-73.
Zilberg, J. Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture and the British Arts and Craft Movement: An Experiment in
the Spirit of Ruskin and Morris in Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture: The Invention of a Shona
Tradition (1996):26-79. Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services.

Institutional Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

for giving permission to make these images available on the world
wide web for educational purposes. I am particularly grateful to Anna
Buruma, the archivist there who was able to locate the scrap book
by pure chance having begun the search for Cyreniania in Libertys
of London in 2005.
Finally, I am grateful for a visiting research fellowship at the
Smithsonians National Museum of African Art in 2008 and the
opportunity for a visiting research residency at the Department of
Transtechnology at the University of Plymouth in 2009, both
appointments having enabled the completion of this component of
The Cyrene project.